Possessing Time

No matter how hard we try to possess it, time possesses us.

I recently came across a fascinating magazine called “Chronos,” devoted exclusively to luxury timepieces and to the international auctions where they can be purchased.

These are not ordinary watches. They tell time, but they are more than vehicles to keep us from missing appointments. On page 81 of the Fall, 2013 issue, for example, was a watch that sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $461,000. Others went for $150,000, and some for a mere $22,000.

A Patek Philippe watch sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $461,000.

What aroused my curiosity was the unique manner in which they were housed and encased. The $461,000 item was a Patek Philippe with “an exceptional platinum automatic minute-repeating calendar with retrograde date and moon phases.” If that is a bit much for your pocketbook, there is a different one that can be yours for a mere $8,750, made of “white gold with a 15-jewel proprietary curved movement.” If you don’t understand why a platinum minute-repeating calendar watch with moon phases should go for half a million dollars, or don’t appreciate the significance of a proprietary curved movement, you clearly do not belong among the readership of Chronos magazine. (I couldn’t help thinking that all this gives new meaning to the expression “time is money.”)

One might expect that for $461,000, the watch would at least offer more time, a temporal bigger bang for the buck: say, 65 minutes per hour instead of the commonplace 60. For such a bundle of money, one should get a decent return on his investment. Five extra minutes an hour means an extra 120 minutes per day, which would be an extra 14 hours per week, which would translate to an extra 56 hours per month. Not a bad return.

Naturally, the timepiece scoffs at such mad hallucinations. Despite what one paid, it moves inexorably forward, its bejeweled little wheels refusing to slow down for a mini-instant as it tolls the identical seconds and minutes as the $4.95 Mickey Mouse watch one picks up at the corner drugstore. Time will not be bought off.

Man and time have been involved in a complex love/hate relationship ever since Creation. Man is a captive of time, limited and controlled by an unrelenting taskmaster. To be sure, time can also be a beneficent healer, curing old wounds and covering up physical and emotional scars. Without its help, unhappy events would never fade away, grief would be unending. The passage of time regenerates us, pulls us up from the depths of despair and allows us to function again as normal human beings.

But man is all too aware of the dual nature of his master. He knows that in time, the helpless, newborn baby becomes a mighty Olympic athlete; he also knows that in time the Olympic athlete becomes a frail and helpless old man. Time can be a friend, but more often than not it is far from friendly, transforming smooth skin into wrinkles, straight backs into bent ones, vivid memories into fogs of haziness

Unable to arrest its relentless forward march, man confronts it — by squandering time, by killing time. Failing at this, he tries to pacify it by placing it in his pocket, on the walls of his home and his buildings, on his wrists, as a pendant on his clothing. Failing at this as well, he tries to indulge it by housing it in luxurious encasements, transforming it into a thing of aesthetic beauty. In an effort to make it even more attractive, he refers to his timepiece as a chronograph, enhancing it with various colored surfaces, date displays, appointment reminders, perpetual calendars, moon phases and planet tracings.

But beneath all the glitter, no matter how lavishly clothed or luxuriously adorned, it continues to move ever forward. Even were we to pay millions of dollars for a timepiece, we would never be able to possess it. It will always possess us.

Mindful of all this, the thoughtful man begins to suspect that perhaps time gets its eternal power from the fact that it is part of Creation, and that it originates with the Timeless One. As such, it can neither be propitiated nor bargained with. Instead, man wisely chooses to make time meaningful and perhaps even sacred. He learns to achieve this not only on holy days, but even on ordinary days and ordinary hours, which can be made meaningful by deeds of loving-kindness, by attentiveness to the needs of others, by introspection and sensitivity, by considering one’s role and place in the great scheme of the universe. Acts such as these help him transcend time and put him in touch with eternity.

This can be achieved either with a million dollar chronograph or a simple $4.95 wristwatch. Neither of them will budge from the 60-minute hour, but they each offer the same opportunities within those 60 minutes. In fact, don’t tell Chronos magazine, but those 60 minutes can be made meaningful without any timepiece at all.

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About the Author

Rabbi Emanuel Feldman is Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Beth Jacob where he was Rabbi from 1952 until 1991. For thirteen years he was the editor of Tradition Magazine, the scholarly quarterly published by the Rabbinical Council of America. He is a former Vice President of the Rabbinical Council of America where he also served as Vice President of its Beis Din (Rabbinical Court).

Ordained by Baltimore’s Ner Israel Rabbinical College, he holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. from Emory University. Rabbi Emanuel Feldman served as Adjunct Professor of Jewish Law at Emory University School of Law, and as Senior Lecturer at Bar Ilan University in Israel.

He has written nine books and over 100 published articles in magazines and newspapers such as Saturday Review, The New Republic, The Jerusalem Post and numerous Anglo-Jewish periodicals here and abroad.

Since his formal retirement from the active pulpit in 1991, Rabbi Emanuel Feldman has been dividing his time between the United States and Jerusalem. In Jerusalem he served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Rashi Translation Project of Jerusalem’s Ariel Research Institute, which has recently published The Ariel Chumash. Presently, he is on the editorial staff of the Encyclopedia of Mitzvot.

Visitor Comments: 14

(13)
Yehudith Shraga,
June 11, 2014 1:59 AM

The meaning of the Beauty

The article has a good message, but I have a difficultly to follow the article's logic. I am sure, that those of us who can afford $461,000 watch know better than anybody else that there are 60 minutes in an hour and can teach us a lot about 'time" and how to use it for gaining a purpose be it material wealth or spiritual growth, besides there must be always a self-check to be done, when we speak about luxury items as a "useless" spent of money. One may be sure of his/her preference of the 4.95$ watch to the $461,000(or a10 $ cream to 1000$ cream), if he/she can afford both on the daily ground.All the time one can't afford a $461,000 watch, there is no place to know if one's choice of 4.95$ is true or it is just a watch one can afford, but sparing the truth to his/her ego makes lots of "reasons" why he/she has no interest in the expansive item.There is nothing shameful in being rich and being able to afford luxury items, all the time they are not the purpose of the person's life.

The beautiful things have a certain magic over us, and it is because the Beauty has a very strong Root in the Spiritual Reality of the Creator, Who is endlessly Perfect, and Who bestows us with the endless potential of the ability to bring the beautiful things into the world. The Creator Himself is the Best Master of Art, and He wishes us to be His Co-creators in this field too.The Sages ordered us to say the blessing "sh'e kacha Lo beUllamo"=this is how His World looks like, when we see a beautiful person. The Prophets say that Jerusalem of the World to Come will be decorated with the precious stones and materials. Rabbi Akiva, bless be his memory, gave his wife as a present "Jerusalem of Gold" tiara, which was so expencive,that the wife of the Nasi, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, complained to him that she does not have so expensive an ornament. I strongly believe, that nobody of us may question the meaningfulness of the Life of Rabbi Akiva.

(12)
Dave Swartz,
June 9, 2014 4:46 PM

Bravo!!

(11)
chava grossman,
June 9, 2014 1:39 PM

Practices what he preaches

Rabbi Feldman has been a central figure in my life for 5 decades, so I can vouch for his ability to use every G-d-given moment productively. Throughout the years, I have watched Rabbi Feldmanmaintain and nurture a special friendship with Time - never taking a moment for granted, always accomplishing, producing, and giving of his own precious Time to others - seemlessly. I'm still struggling to keep up with him!Respectfully,His Daughter

(10)
Cindy,
June 9, 2014 1:29 PM

Beautiful

Beautiful article, one that I thoroughly enjoyed reading!

(9)
Anonymous,
June 9, 2014 12:06 PM

Excellent!

This is excellent! Thank you so much for posting this!

(8)
Judith Dowla,
June 9, 2014 1:58 AM

Time

Time in a bottle, time after time, time ;pieces , a time for us. The dissertation on time certainly brought considerable thought to mind. A time to live and a time to die, time well spent and we ought to spend it well for we have been given a life of abundance and we are ever so grateful to You for all that is given to us. Thank You LORD! Truly appreciated. Amen to that!

(7)
JM,
June 8, 2014 9:43 PM

One of my very favorite writers

Rabbi Feldman is one of my favorite writers. How easily and naturally this article moves forward, and how powerfully makes its point: nomelodrama, no self consciousness. Just good writing and worthwhile content. Thanks, Rabbi Feldman. I always check my AISH email for your articles, and good as the rest are, I am disappointed when you are not featured.

(6)
Anonymous,
June 8, 2014 7:09 PM

Once again I thank Rabbi Feldman, a prolific writer for yet another excellent, well presented and beautifully written article.It is a true Kiddush Hashem having a man of his calibre writing so many eloquent and thought provoking articles.

(5)
Anonymous,
June 8, 2014 7:08 PM

Time & time again I need to hear this message!!

Glad I had the time to read this powerful reminder to squeeze what I can from my limited time here on earth!! I just came across an exam I took in college....some 35 yrs ago!! That was a real wake up call....I tried to take an account of what I really accomplished in 3 1/2 decades. And decided I could have/ should have done more!!Thank you Rabbi for taking the time to write this important article.

( PS...We miss you here in Atlanta!)

(4)
Bruce,
June 8, 2014 5:28 PM

TIME DOESN'T EXIST

In reality, time is a construct of the human mind. It doesn't actually exist in nature. It's a method or tool of ours to help us define our world, but it is not a natural phenomenon. We use "time" as our way of organizing our lives, but it is dependent on our definition of what it is. So, in reality, man and time are not locked in a love-hate relationship, time cannot possess us, and it is not an unrelenting taskmaster. Time is essentially nothing but our self-imposed concept that allows us to organize our lives.

Yehudith Shraga,
June 10, 2014 2:25 AM

Well said

May not agree more, the experiments show, that but for the change of day and night, we would all have different cycles of activity, where the man's cycle is about 24-28 earthly hours, while the woman's is 36 up to 48 earthly hours, and that is why the Torah says that the Creator puts the Sun and the Moon for us to be able to count the time in the common framework for holidays etc.We are here on the earth for the work to do, and as this work is temporal so we are helped "to invent the time" for us to be able to meet the deadlines.Kabbalists say that "time" runs different for all of us and mostly depends on our spiritual growth We all are supposed to undergo 6000 changes( Hebrew Shanna-year, is of the same root with shimu'i-change), so there are those among us which manage to live hundreds of spiritual years in some earthly minutes, and there are some of us who hardly manage to make several spiritual minutes during all their earthly life. Kabbalah meaning of the expression "Have a good time" is "use all the time on this earth to make as many bestowing changes in your nature as you can".

(3)
Jane,
June 8, 2014 4:42 PM

Time....

Superb piece!

(2)
Shoshana - Jerusalem,
June 8, 2014 4:31 PM

Thank you

Wow! What an article.

The same thought can be found in Psalm 90 -( Tefila l'Moshe)verse 12- "Teach us to use our days " ( limnot yameinu kein hoda).

And we see with Avraham Avinu that he "came with his days"-(ba b'yamov)- every day and every minute accounted for.

Thank you for this powerful reminder.

(1)
Roz,
June 8, 2014 1:16 PM

Time is life.

We need to give a big hand to the rabbi for this timely, up-to-the-minute perspective. When were younger, we buy into the "time is money" thinking. Truth is, time is life and it passes quickly. I am moved to make more time for the people in my life.

I just got married and have an important question: Can we eat rice on Passover? My wife grew up eating it, and I did not. Is this just a matter of family tradition?

The Aish Rabbi Replies:

The Torah instructs a Jew not to eat (or even possess) chametz all seven days of Passover (Exodus 13:3). "Chametz" is defined as any of the five grains (wheat, spelt, barley, oats, and rye) that came into contact with water for more than 18 minutes. Chametz is a serious Torah prohibition, and for that reason we take extra protective measures on Passover to prevent any mistakes.

Hence the category of food called "kitniyot" (sometimes referred to generically as "legumes"). This includes rice, corn, soy beans, string beans, peas, lentils, peanuts, mustard, sesame seeds and poppy seeds. Even though kitniyot cannot technically become chametz, Ashkenazi Jews do not eat them on Passover. Why?

Products of kitniyot often appear like chametz products. For example, it can be hard to distinguish between rice flour (kitniyot) and wheat flour (chametz). Also, chametz grains may become inadvertently mixed together with kitniyot. Therefore, to prevent confusion, all kitniyot were prohibited.

In Jewish law, there is one important distinction between chametz and kitniyot. During Passover, it is forbidden to even have chametz in one's possession (hence the custom of "selling chametz"). Whereas it is permitted to own kitniyot during Passover and even to use it - not for eating - but for things like baby powder which contains cornstarch. Similarly, someone who is sick is allowed to take medicine containing kitniyot.

What about derivatives of kitniyot - e.g. corn oil, peanut oil, etc? This is a difference of opinion. Many will use kitniyot-based oils on Passover, while others are strict and only use olive or walnut oil.

Finally, there is one product called "quinoa" (pronounced "ken-wah" or "kin-o-ah") that is permitted on Passover even for Ashkenazim. Although it resembles a grain, it is technically a grass, and was never included in the prohibition against kitniyot. It is prepared like rice and has a very high protein content. (It's excellent in "cholent" stew!) In the United States and elsewhere, mainstream kosher supervision agencies certify it "Kosher for Passover" -- look for the label.

Interestingly, the Sefardi Jewish community does not have a prohibition against kitniyot. This creates the strange situation, for example, where one family could be eating rice on Passover - when their neighbors will not. So am I going to guess here that you are Ashkenazi and your wife is Sefardi. Am I right?

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Moses ben Nachman (1194-1270), known as Nachmanides, and by the acronym of his name, Ramban. Born in Spain, he was a physician by trade, but was best-known for authoring brilliant commentaries on the Bible, Talmud, and philosophy. In 1263, King James of Spain authorized a disputation (religious debate) between Nachmanides and a Jewish convert to Christianity, Pablo Christiani. Nachmanides reluctantly agreed to take part, only after being assured by the king that he would have full freedom of expression. Nachmanides won the debate, which earned the king's respect and a prize of 300 gold coins. But this incensed the Church: Nachmanides was charged with blasphemy and he was forced to flee Spain. So at age 72, Nachmanides moved to Jerusalem. He was struck by the desolation in the Holy City -- there were so few Jews that he could not even find a minyan to pray. Nachmanides immediately set about rebuilding the Jewish community. The Ramban Synagogue stands today in Jerusalem's Old City, a living testimony to his efforts.

It's easy to be intimidated by mean people. See through their mask. Underneath is an insecure and unhappy person. They are alienated from others because they are alienated from themselves.

Have compassion for them. Not pity, not condemning, not fear, but compassion. Feel for their suffering. Identify with their core humanity. You might be able to influence them for the good. You might not. Either way your compassion frees you from their destructiveness. And if you would like to help them change, compassion gives you a chance to succeed.

It is the nature of a person to be influenced by his fellows and comrades (Rambam, Hil. De'os 6:1).

We can never escape the influence of our environment. Our life-style impacts upon us and, as if by osmosis, penetrates our skin and becomes part of us.

Our environment today is thoroughly computerized. Computer intelligence is no longer a science-fiction fantasy, but an everyday occurrence. Some computers can even carry out complete interviews. The computer asks questions, receives answers, interprets these answers, and uses its newly acquired information to ask new questions.

Still, while computers may be able to think, they cannot feel. The uniqueness of human beings is therefore no longer in their intellect, but in their emotions.

We must be extremely careful not to allow ourselves to become human computers that are devoid of feelings. Our culture is in danger of losing this essential aspect of humanity, remaining only with intellect. Because we communicate so much with unfeeling computers, we are in danger of becoming disconnected from our own feelings and oblivious to the feelings of others.

As we check in at our jobs, and the computer on our desk greets us with, "Good morning, Mr. Smith. Today is Wednesday, and here is the agenda for today," let us remember that this machine may indeed be brilliant, but it cannot laugh or cry. It cannot be happy if we succeed, or sad if we fail.

Today I shall...

try to remain a human being in every way - by keeping in touch with my own feelings and being sensitive to the feelings of others.

With stories and insights,
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